Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Best 100% Whole Wheat Loaf

I have been a long time maker of homemade breads. I have tired my fair share of recipes, some worth keeping and others just down right nasty. My kids have grown up on whole wheat bread and I honestly don't think they know the difference between whole wheat or white bread. They just eat what they are given.

For anyone who makes whole wheat bread themselves they will know that it can be hard to get a nice light loaf. They tend to be more dense over the white loafs and they are by nature just harder to make.

But I am happy to say I have finally found the perfect whole wheat recipe. I very well may never make a different recipe again.

I do cheat a little and use my bread maker to make the dough for me. I have never been good at doing it by hand and always seem to kill the yeast. But if you are a master and making bread 100% from scratch then go for it. Otherwise I highly suggest you buy a bread maker, it is one appliance we can never live without in this house. 7 years and counting for when we bought our first bread maker.

Maple Whole Wheat Bread

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup bread flour

1/3 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups water

4 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select wheat bread cycle; press Start.

More often then not I only put my bread on the dough cycle of my bread maker. Once the dough has finished rising I take it out, flatten it and let it rise for another 30-50 minutes. I bake it in the oven at 375 for 30 minutes.